Bursa dips further as global rally takes a breather

KUALA LUMPUR: The correction on BUrsa Malaysia accelerated on Thursday with the benchmark index shaving 7.57 points to 1,815.35. Turnover was 2.57 billion shares worth RM1.4bil. There were 532 decliners to 159 advancers and 585 counters unchanged.

Regional markets were also in decline on profit-taking with China's markets snapping a nine-day winning streak, on the heels of Wall Streets negative performance following a six-day rally. 

Back home, among leading laggards on the KLCI, Petronas Gas dropped 46 sen to RM18.54, Genting Malaysia fell 11 sen to RM5.46 and Digi declined eight sen to RM4.72.

There were few gainers on the 30-stock index, including Hong Leong Bank, gaining four sen to RM17.38 and Hong Leong Financial Group, rising eight sen to RM17.84.

RHB also rose one sen to RM5.13 while CIMB put on two sen to RM6.76.

On the wider market, LPI Capital continued to put on gains, bolstered by news of its bonus issue. It rose 28 sen to RM19.70. 

F&N also led gains, putting on 32 sen to RM28.30 and Tasek added 20 sen to RM12.20.

Declining stocks included United Plantation, falling 40 sen to RM28, Top Glove slipping 28 sen to RM8.72 and Hengyuan falling 20 sen to RM16.78.

Oil market retreated slightly on concerns that they may be overheating, although at current price levels, they remain near 2014 highs.

US light crude fell nine cents to US$63.48 a barrel while Brent crude dropped 11 cents to US$69.09 a barrel.

In currencies, the greenback faced downwards pressure as criticism mounted that it was taking protectionist approach to trade and China warned of slowing its purchase of US Treasury bills.

The ringgit moved 0.36% higher against the US dollar on Thursday to 3.9905, but also gained 0.53% against the pound sterling at 5.3825 and 0.31% against the Singapore dollar at 2.9914.